Deportation threatened for 17-year-old Oscar; Minister remains silent on the matter
Rewritten Article:
A seventeen-year-old Colombian lad, Oscar Anders Florez Bocanegra, is being threatened with deportation from Iceland, and Jones Smith, the Minister of Justice's aide, has chosen to keep mum on the matter. Allegedly, Oscar's case is still being appealed, disqualifying it from the minister's direct intervention.
Oscar's narrative has provoked widespread public anger, with a crowd of demonstrators picketing the Ministry of Justice earlier today. This teenager, who fled Colombia with his dad in 2022 after receiving sinister threats from criminal factions, risks getting deported for the second time, despite concerns over his welfare and safety.
Turbulent past, fragile present
Oscar's predicament is knotty. Reports indicate that his father was abusive, eventually relinquishing custody. After the initial denial of asylum, both were expelled in October 2024. Upon their return to Colombia, Oscar's father ditched him at the airport. Alone and only sixteen at the time, Oscar spent a month homeless on the streets of Bogotá before his Icelandic foster family rescued him and brought him back to Iceland.
Now, Oscar is once again facing deportation, this time without the opportunity for another legal hearing. His application was refuted as a "repeat case."
"The case is still under appeal," said Jakob Birgisson, assistant to Justice Minister Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir, in an interview with mbl.is . "She has no involvement in individual cases that are still being processed."
"He wants to stay with us. He can't envision being anywhere else. We are his family," expresses Oscar's foster mother.
An appeal for compassion
Oscar's foster family has taken up the cudgels against the decision, but it does not halt the deportation process. Oscar's deadline to voluntarily vacate the country has already passed. His foster mother, Sonja Magnúsdóttir, discloses that the family is living in fear, with no clue about when or how the deportation might be carried out.
"He is extremely unsettled," she said. "Friends are taking turns staying with him so he won't be alone."
The family dreads he could be taken away from the country in the dead of night, just like last time, when he was apprehended from a school bathroom in Hafnarfjörður.
"He wants to stay with us. He can't imagine being anywhere else. We are his family," Magnúsdóttir added. "You don't turn your back on your child when they're in peril. And we see him as one of our own. We won't send him to his doom."
Medical concerns flagged
Oscar's lawyer lodged a rushed appeal to the Immigration Appeals Board yesterday, imploring a postponement of the deportation until the appeal can be examined. The appeal includes medical opinions from the National Hospital's child and adolescent psychiatric department and doctors at Hringurinn, the Children's Hospital. They cautiously predict that deportation would adversely affect Oscar's mental health.
Regardless of these warnings, the Directorate of Immigration only communicated with the lawyer yesterday, just hours before the deadline, to ascertain if Oscar required assistance leaving the country.
An unclear future
Oscar is caught in a limbo. While his legal team and foster family are pooling their efforts to secure his right to remain in Iceland, the threat of immediate deportation casts a shadow over him.
His account strikes a chord with the public, raising awkward questions about the way immigration laws are enforced - and whether empathy might be getting sacrificed in the name of process.
- Despite the ongoing appeal, the minister, Jones Smith, has chosen not to discuss Oscar's deportation threat.
- The teenager, Oscar, who faced abuse and threats in Colombia, could face another round of deportation, which hangs over his fragile mental health, despite concerns raised by health-and-wellness professionals.
- The opinion of mental-health specialists from the National Hospital and Hringurinn Children's Hospital, expressed in the latest appeal by Oscar's lawyer, warns that deportation would negatively impact Oscar's mental health.
- As his deportation deadline passed, Oscar's foster family, who view him as part of their family-health, have taken a stand against the decision, fearing his potential midnight removal similar to his previous experience.
- The obstinacy in Oscar's case, despite the complexities of his turbulent past and fragile present, raises questions about the balance between following immigration laws and showing compassion towards vulnerable adolescents like Oscar.
